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Dr. B., Cat Veterinarian

Category: Cat

Satisfied Customers: 22275

Experience: I am a small animal veterinarian with a special interest in cats and am happy to discuss any questions you have.

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Hi there, our cat Grommet is 13 years old and was diagnosed

Customer Question

Hi there, our cat Grommet is 13 years old and was diagnosed as having an enlarged heart just over a month ago from an X-ray. Approx. 380ml of fluid was syringed off her lungs as she was breathing very heavily, which is obviously a lot of fluid for a cat. She's been taking some tablets morning and evening since then, Fortekor 2.5mg once a day, Frusemide 10mg twice a day and these do seem to have helped stabilize her breathing.

However, yesterday and this morning, she's back to breathing quite hard and isn't showing her usual enthusiasm for her food. Does she need to go to an emergency vet today or do you think Monday would be OK?

Hello & welcome, I am Dr. B, a licensed veterinarian and I would like to help you with your wee one today. I do apologize that your question was not answered before. Different experts come online at various times; I just came online, read about your wee one’s situation, and wanted to help.

I must say that I am quite concerned about Grommet's increased respiration returning. This tells us either that fluid has been slowly trickling into her lungs or into the chest around the lungs until it is compromising her breathing again despite treatment. Now you have not noted her weight, so I cannot appreciate her dose of Frusemide for her size (whether she is on a low or high dose).

Still if she is showing heavy breathing (ie >30 breaths per minute and especially if you see her just sitting around huffing/puffing or open mouth breathing), it is best to have her seen sooner rather then delaying. The reason her appetite will be on the wane is

because her oxygenation is poor enough with her condition that she has to sit and focus on that to keep herself going. And as cats that struggle to breathe will not open mouth breathe or appear to be in distress until they are near exhaustion and collapse, we have to take this situation very seriously.

Therefore, if she has been struggling for the past 24+hrs, then it is very important to get her seen too as soon as possible and not risk her not making it through the weekend. And just to note in case you were keen to have Grommet seen today, some veterinary practices in our country have Sunday office hours. As well, I wanted to mention that most veterinary practices here do have contingency plans for emergency care for their patients even when they are not open. Therefore, it is worth ringing the practice. If they are open, you can get her seen today. If they aren't, then they will likely have a message to direct you on how to contact their out of hours service. And if you don't have a vet you can find one local to you, you can check you can check the RCVS Register (HERE) to find your local Vets Now (LINK) who are open all nights/weekends. In any case, if you wanted to get Grommet checked out sooner to settle her respiratory distress and decline there are options to have her seen today too.

I do feel that is the best course of action for Grommet. Hopefully, this is a wee blip that can be managed by increasing her drug doses and that the fluid hasn't built up this quickly (since that would give her a guarded prognosis).

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